New Delhi: Migrant labourers of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan were the worst affected during the Covid19 pandemic as they had to return back to their states, Minister of State for Labour and Employment Rameshwar Teli informed the Parliament.
He had said that Uttar Pradesh top the list of states where the most number of migrant labourers 32,49,638 went back to their homes during the COVID 19 pandemic.
UP is followed by Bihar (15,00,612) and Rajasthan (13,08,130) as states where labourers went back to their homes following the outbreak of the pandemic.
Minister of State for Labour and Employment Rameshwar Teli in a written reply to a question in Parliament said as many as 1,14,30,968 migrant labourers went back to their homes in different states across India during the COVID 19 pandemic.
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"Most of these migrant labourers have returned to their workplace and resumed productive employment," Teli said.
As per the government statistics, as many as 13,84,693 migrant labourers from West Bengal, 7,53,582 labourers from Madhya Pradesh and 8,53,777 labourers from Odisha went back to their homes during the pandemic.
In fact, both the waves of the pandemic severely hit the migrant workers as their work had been stopped due to lockdowns and several other Covid 19 related restrictions.
To boost employment and livelihood opportunities for migrant workers returning to villages during the pandemic, the Central government has launched Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan (GKRA).
"The initiatives involves intensified and focussed implementation of 25 target driven works to provide employment and create infrastructure in the rural areas of 116 districts having a high concentration of migrant workers in six States," Teli said.
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He said that with a total expenditure of Rs 39,293 crore, the scheme has already generated 50,78,68,671 man-days employment.
Teli said that States and UTs were advised to frame a scheme under Building and Other Construction Workers (BOCW) Act, 1996 for transfer of funds in the bank account of BOC workers.
"During the first wave of Covid19 pandemic, Rs 5618 crore were disbursed to 1.83 crore BOCW workers and Rs 1795 crore were disbursed to 1.23 crore BOCW workers during the second wave of the pandemic," the Labour Minister further noted.
